Okay...
We are moving over from left to centerfield.
Choices:
Nimmo
Khalil Lee
Jake Magnum (from B-Mets)
New guy
your turn...
Mack’s Mets – the premier site for information on the New York Mets talent pipeline and dialogue on Mets prospects, Mets news, and Mets opinions.
9/30/21
Tom Brennan - 2021 Mets Draft Picks - How Did They Do?
Well, no meaningful October baseball for the Mets this year (WHAT ELSE IS NEW?), so let's look at the 2021 draft.
Did the draftees do well overall?
Hint: the answer is a 3 letter word that starts with the letter Y.
Before I proceed: If you want to know more about any of the draftees below, Mack posted separate articles on each of the 20 draftees from July 11 through July 15. I won't be repeating that info here, but feel free to use the site's search engine to look into any of those Macks notes. This is a high level look at the 2021 crop - I will separately be doing some Top 30 write ups soon.
We know the team's # 1 pick, Kumar Rocker, was not signed.
Remind me when he wins his 200th major league game, will ya?
Anyway, let's move on to the other fellas, the ones that actually took pen in hand and signed, shall we?
Rounds 2 thru 20. Yep, all of them signed.
A surprising number (6 of the 19) were assigned as high as low A St Lucie, and by and large did well there.
As a point of comparison, back in 2019 and prior, before the draft was shrunk from 40 rounds to 20, I do not off hand recall any pre-2020 drafted hombres playing substantial time in low A in their debut year. Most did not make it to low A in their debut year at all. I like that more aggressive change. Challenge those who can be successfully challenged.
Let's get rolling:
2nd rounder, P Calvin Ziegler - the 18 year old righty did not pitch. He was the 46th overall pick and was # 123 in the MLB Pipeline rankings. Throws hard, but not super hard, at least at age 18. I do not mind a cautious approach with an 18 year old high value draftee. I'd love to see him start out in low A next year, but that may be too aggressive. As you read on below, though, the Mets were putting just-drafted guys in low A, so one can hope he is ready for an aggressive 2022 placement.
3rd rounder, P Dominic Hamel - his pro debut was short, but very sweet. He threw 3 perfect innings in the rookie ball Florida Complex League (FCL), fanning 7. What's not to like?
4th rounder, 1B JT Schwartz - the lefty hitter only fanned 12 times in 25 St Lucie (Low A) Mets games, which is good, but hit just .195/.320/.296, which is not so good. But, a challenging Low A assignment - remember that Pete Alonso started his career one level lower. Schwartz can look forward to 2022, most likely starting out in St Lucie.
5th rounder, P Christian Scott - 22 year old 6'4" righty in the FCL fanned 1 in 3 IP, and allowed 1 run. How's that for dipping the toe in - 3 innings?
6th rounder, P Carson Seymour - 6'6" righty got his big toes wet in the FCL, walking 6 in 4.1 IP with 4 Ks and 1 run allowed.
7th rounder, SS Kevin Kendall - the lefty bat excelled for the St Lucie Mets, 113 at bats, .327/.421/.451, 8 of 10 in steals. Some fans do feel that the Mets need a SS. Realistically, the Lindor Wall stands in his way.
8th rounder, 6'5" lefty P Mike Vasil - FCL dazzler: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 10 Ks. Gotta love that.
9th rounder, 6'5" P Levi David - DNP. Don't know why.
10th rounder, lefty Keyshawn Askew - great FCL debut, 9 IP, 1.00 ERA, 14 Ks, 2-0. Keyshawn!!
11th rounder, S/H OF Jordan Rowdey - for St Lucie Mets, .229/.333/.294 in 109 ABs. Not a bad immediately-assigned-to-Low-A-ball pro debut.
12th rounder, OF Jack Wold - for St Lucie Mets, 86 ABs, 8 XBHs, .279/.315/.442, 17 Ks in 25 G. Very nice career kick off.
13th rounder, IF Matt Rudick - for the FCL squad, the 5'9" OF generated .303/.404/.447 in 76 at bats, 6 for 6 in steals. Nice!
14th rounder, P Nate Lavender - the 6'2" lefty in 4 FCL games, 6.2 IP, 1 run, 12 Ks. Excellent! My new favorite color? You guessed it.
15th rounder, 5'7" IF Wyatt Young - FCL darling, hitting a scintillating .370/.426/.478. A lot better than fellow former Hawaiian Mets draft bust Branden Kaupe, that's for sure.
16th rounder, righty P Trey McLaughlin - 6.10 FCL ERA, with 19 Ks in 20.2 IP and a 1.31 WHIP. Lots of innings, relatively speaking.
17th rounder, lefty P Nick Zwack - FCL dazzler: 7.1 IP, 13 Ks, 0.00 ERA. Sweet! A Big Zwack Attack!
18th rounder, P Koby Kubichek - a rare struggler in this debut season, 0-3, 7.71 ERA, 18.2 IP, 11 BB, 12K - but he pitched in Low A, so that was a challenging assignment right out of the box. Onward to 2022.
19th rounder, C Drake Osborn - His FCL debut was soft on hitting, 8 for 45, .178/.296/.222. Not all catchers are to be confused with Francisco Alvarez.
20th rounder, IF Justin Guerrera - the 5'9" IF started out strong in the FCL, got promoted to St Lucie and hit less there, but overall, a very solid season: .286/369/.495 in 30 games. Far better than the most likely washed up Greg Guerrero.
Overall, very fine debuts for the 17 of the 19 draftees who signed and played, and started climbing the mountain.
By my count, 12 of the 20 did well, 5 not so well, 2 did not play, and one rocker chose to play music or otherwise occupy himself.
Leslie and Felix from the Mountain Climbing days
Too bad that we did not draft - and sign - a willing first rounder. Next time we want a true rocker, try Leslie West. I saw Leslie play at the tennis stadium across from Shea in the summer of 1973 - he knocked it out of the park. The half of the audience that day who showed up for the other act, Sly and the Family Stone, was quite agitated that Sly decided not to show up. Two very different music genres.
Funny how that works. I don't think Sly blamed Covid.
The Mets lost 4-2 to the Braves at Shea earlier that day - Hank Aaron hit 2 homers. So, he knocked it out of the park, too.
Anyway, I found the date the two bands played together - odd to think that some of the drafted kids' parents may not have been born by July 1973 - time does fly:
7/8/1973 New York, NY, Louis Armstrong Stadium Sly & The Family Stone,
Press Release - Payton and Vientos homer, but Mets drop series opener to Bisons, 7-3, on Wednesday night
Syracuse, NY - The Syracuse Mets lost the series opener to the Buffalo Bisons, 7-3, on Wednesday night at NBT Bank Stadium in a game that featured five home runs. One of those homers came off Syracuse third baseman Mark Vientos’s bat in the first inning, making it three home runs in his first nine Triple-A games. With the loss, the Mets move to 3-3 in the Triple-A Final Stretch while the Bisons improve to 5-1.
Buffalo (76-47) put up four runs in the top of the first inning. Otto Lopez hit a one-out single, and then Kevin Smith hit an RBI double to make it a 1-0 Bisons advantage. Gregory Polanco followed with a single, scoring Smith to extend the lead to 2-0. Tyler White then stepped in and hit a two-run homer to put Buffalo ahead 4-0.
Syracuse (50-72-1) got on the board in the bottom of the first thanks to a Vientos solo home run. His third Triple-A home run made it 4-1 with Buffalo still in front.
The Bisons added a run in the top of the third when Smith hit a leadoff solo home run to give Buffalo a four-run lead again, 5-1.
The Mets cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third. Martin Cervenka worked a leadoff walk. Mark Payton then blasted a two-run homer down the right-field line to bring Syracuse within two, 5-3 Bisons.
Buffalo, however, hit yet another home run, this time in the top of the fifth. Lopez hit a one-out double. Kevin Smith then grounded out for the second out of the inning, but Polanco followed with a two-run homer to give Buffalo a 7-3 lead.
A bright spot for the Mets was their bullpen, which tallied four scoreless innings. Robert Gsellman in his Major League rehab assignment pitched a scoreless sixth. Yeizo Campos followed with a scoreless seventh, and Akeem Bostick didn’t allow a run in the eighth nor the ninth.
Syracuse and Buffalo return to NBT Bank Stadium on Thursday for game two of the five-game series. Mets minor league pitcher of the year, right-hander Adam Oller, will take the mound for Syracuse against Buffalo left-hander Nick Allgeyer. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.
9/29/21
Mike's Mets - The Real Work Lies Ahead
In my last post, I shared some thoughts on the current punditry that the New York Mets organization has reverted to WILPON ERA DYSFUNCTION. Especially amusing was the idea that the value of the Mets had "gone backward significantly," with Steve Cohen's tweets a significant contributor to that drop in value. This was a ludicrous statement from an unnamed "former MLB executive." The Mets organization has indeed made some serious, high-profile blunders since Cohen took over. Still, the Mets are a viable franchise in the country's largest (by far) sports market. There's a difference between temporary setbacks and long-term trends that would hurt the franchise's value as a whole.
Don't get me wrong. Cohen didn't do himself any favors by trying to out the source of that infamous quote in Mike Puma's article. It's likely that Cohen himself, in hindsight, would have passed on making that emotional reaction. However, I'm sure that he fully understands that the Mets need to succeed in finding the elusive President of Baseball Operations that they whiffed on last winter. The Mets can't continue to flounder around as an organization as they have this year. A strong hand needs to be hired to take the wheel going forward.
I outlined in my last piece why it would be challenging to lure a young executive like the Brewers' David Stearns, Cleveland's Mike Chernoff, or the Rays' Erik Neander — three of the prominent names linked to the Mets executive search. In a nutshell, they're already at or near the top of their profession, making an excellent living and doing their jobs in markets with far fewer media outlets and outside pressure. Barring some sort of catastrophic public scandal in their personal lives, it's hard to see any of these guys not working for their respective organizations for as long as they desire. Moreover, there is no guarantee that any of these clubs will give the Mets permission to talk to them.
Provided that the Mets do indeed receive permission to speak with someone they really like, it would likely take a contract rich in both dollars and years to overcome whatever trepidation their target might have about job security in the New York market. In the case of Billy Beane or Theo Epstein, Cohen will have to be willing to offer an ownership stake similar to the 4% of the A's Beane currently holds. With all due respect to the Oakland franchise, a similar percentage of the Mets would be worth much more. Needless to say, the Mets better make the correct choice in whoever they hire for the job. It won't be a simple matter to change course if things don't work out.
One former executive whose name hasn't come up all that often is former GM and PBO of the Houston Astros Jeff Luhnow. Luhnow wasn't directly implicated in the infamous trash can lid scandal, but he didn't do anything to stop it, either. He was suspended by MLB and subsequently fired by Astros owner Jim Crane. Luhnow has always claimed to have known nothing about the cheating. Even if he didn't, as the man running everything, he certainly should have.
Most of the names closely tied to cheating are getting second chances. A.J. Hinch has been hired to manage the Detroit Tigers. Alex Cora is back running the Red Sox. This despite both actually being in the dugout while the cheating was happening, with Cora actively participating in it. What's really working against Luhnow is that he's never really taken responsibility for his failure in allowing the cheating to go on for so long, and he wasn't well-liked in the game.
Luhnow has some definite qualifications for the Mets job. He enjoyed success in rebuilding the Astros. He came from the Cardinals organization before that, which has sustained success in a market that isn't very large. It would seem that Luhnow might be a reasonable target for the Mets if they fail to land Beane, Epstein, Stearns, or any of their other top targets.
On the other hand, maybe his stubbornness in seeing himself as a victim and not taking responsibility for what went down in Houston argues against the likelihood of Jeff Luhnow thriving in this overheated media market. However, I would be surprised if the Mets didn't at least talk with the man. His time away from the game may have given him a better perspective on things with the Astros. A longshot for sure, but an interesting one.
Since I began writing this post a few days ago, Joel Sherman wrote a piece for the New York Post that touched on the possibility of the Mets hiring Luhnow. Sherman did an excellent job summarizing Luhnow's qualifications for the position and also the case against hiring him:[Luhnow] is, in many ways, the ideal candidate for the Mets’ president of baseball operations job. He almost certainly would speak the same business and financial language as owner Steve Cohen. Cohen has insisted he does not want to train someone on his dime to do this job. Luhnow would need no training. But the Mets, more than any team, need not to associate right now with scandal, considering their persistent dysfunction. And Luhnow’s history has consisted of being too near third rails, if not standing right on them.One reason he has not received another MLB job opportunity was that he made so few friends in the game. Luhnow brought a corporate culture, the likes of which MLB had never experienced before, to the Astros’ baseball operations. It was methodical, efficient and competent. But also ruthless and without empathy.
Luhnow had a reputation for not treating people well. The Astros often acted near or beyond the lines when it came to rules, and their feel for people was poor. A culture formed and from that culture, among other things, came the sign stealing and an assistant GM who taunted female reporters while praising alleged domestic abuser Roberto Osuna — a reliever who was only an Astro because they saw his talent without enough concerns about what his presence said. Also, Houston might have been Ground Zero for pitchers illegally weaponizing extreme sticky substances.
Cohen spoke at his initial press conference last year about winning the right way, and Jeff Luhnow hasn't had the career that would fit that description. Luhnow's poor reputation for treating people who worked under him wouldn't make him a good choice for the type of collaborative work environment that Cohen and Alderson have spoken of as a goal for the Mets.
Tom Brennan - What Might An All-Homegrown Mets Lineup in 2023 Look Like?
A doubleheader win last night - hey, don't screw around with my draft slot!!
An Ecclesiastes might say, a time to win...AND A TIME TO LOSE!
Anyway, a question to ask, as the Mets’ season circles the bowl in Flushing:
How good, exactly, is the Mets minor league system?
I think the bottom line is, if you had to start the NY Mets over from scratch, could you do that internally from the minors, when it comes to fielding a legitimate line up in 2023, after another full year of seasoning in 2022?
In other words:
Would the following lineup have a reasonable chance of MLB success in 2023?
Khalil Lee - RF. A roughly .450 OBP, by far the best in the International League.
Jake Mangum - CF. Hit nearly .300 in AA, with some pop and speed. And 39 for 97 since the beginning of August, which was over .400.
Alex Ramirez - LF. Easily holding his own in A ball at 18, a very high level for an 18 year old to start his career - he hit .258 after a slow start, and seems to be super-talented.
Brett Baty - 3B. Many believe he is an All Star MLB talent in the years ahead. .292/.382/.503 season speaks to his promise as a player.
Ronny Mauricio - SS. Developing big power. 20 HRs, 64 RBIs in 423 at bats, and would I'm sure have had several more HRs were it not for playing many home games in hard-to-hit-in Brooklyn.
Carlos Cortes - 2B/OF. Highly regarded extra base hit bat. 41 XBHs in 304 at bats - wow.
Mark Vientos - 1B/3B/OF. To borrow a Terry Collins term, Mark has “Power Supreme.” His season continues until October 3 in AAA, and he has started very strongly in his delayed AAA debut in September.
Francisco Alvarez - C. Seems like a true superstar catcher in the making. Light tower power. 19 years old, and 24 HRs and 70 RBIs in 327 at bats is amazing, especially considering most of his home ABs were in tough Brooklyn. He hit like a beast outside of Brooklyn.
Utility dudes:
Wilmer Reyes - IF. This dude is talented, versatile, and scrappy. Just 16 late season games, but hit .345/.409/.483.
Pat Mazeika - C. Decent enough # 2 catcher. Too much MLB time for you to consider I'm in this list? Then try Hayden Senger, who faded bat-wise down the stretch, or Nick Meyer, whose bat also faded.
Jose Peroza - IF. He ought to be largely ready with another full year of stick work. 64 RBIs in 357 at bats. Faded a bit at the very end.
Carlos Rincon - OF. Big power, with 22 HRs and 77 RBIs and a .496 slug % in 382 ABs - a steadily improving talent. 114 Ks not terrible, but needs continued focus.
SO…WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Me? I am intrigued by this home-grown potential line up.
We'll never see it happen - but it would be fun for me to see them get a full extra year under their belts in 2022 and see them all in Queens on Opening Day in 2023.
AND BEFORE I GO - A FLASHBACK:
This year's bleak, bottom quintile Mets team scoring is not an aberration.
As I was looking in our archives for something else, I came across the following article I wrote back in 2018, which shows that bottom quintile run scoring is, for the Mets, a familiar rate of non-production (and a nice call me on Wilmer Flores!):
Tom Brennan - WHY ARE THE METS 28TH IN SCORING?
The Mets throughout their 56+ seasons have been a bottom half offense far more than a top half offense.
Believe me, I've been there since 1962, I know.
I especially enjoyed 1968, when the Mets managed to score 473 runs, or 2.92 runs per game. How exciting!
Even in early July 2015, the Mets team that went to the World Series was averaging just 3.5 runs per game.
This team wears its lack of hitting as a badge of honor.
This year is no exception - through Monday, they were 28th out of 30 teams in scoring.
Why?
First of all, to be fair, one must consider the number of games played...a few teams like San Diego that have scored a few more runs have also played more games....but that still leaves the Mets in the bottom 5 instead of just the bottom 3.
Back to reasons:
Yoenis Cespedes has played hurt recently, no doubt impairing his offensive output. He started slowly this year, but was quite clutch driving in runs.
Then he decided to steal twice in one game, hurting his thumb, presumably not badly but who can really be sure. We heard about quad discomfort shortly after that.
Stupid teams fail to restrain a leg-injury-prone slugging cornerstone star from unnecessary running. Bad legs to Yoenis is like Samson after a haircut....not the same dude.
Let's hope he heals without a DL stint and starts hitting like Manny Machado.
Let's hope he heals without a DL stint and starts hitting like Manny Machado.
Amed Rosario is progressing, but in nearly 2000 minor league plate appearances, he never really learned pitch recognition. Which leads to paltry major league on base percentage. How paltry?
Out of 26 major league shortstops with qualifying numbers of at bats, he is 25th at .273 in OBP. The lowest guy is at .271. Such futility contributes to the Mets' being 28th in scoring, certainly.
Two decent hitting catchers hurt at the same time, IN THE FRIGGIN' FIRST HALF OF APRIL, with no Rene Rivera to fall back on this year.
The injury curse of the Mets - only plausible explanation.
Lobaton and Nido went 12 for 80 (.150) in their absence thru Monday; Devin Mesoraco just 1 for 13 as a Met. Ugh!
Adrian Gonzalez was supposed to be a stop gap, really, until Dominic Smith, the future, was quickly ready. Smith promptly missed all but 2 plate appearances in spring training, resulting in his abdication of the first base job.
Smith is now, he says, acclimating himself to his svelte 215 pound body, so Gonzalez's "stop gap" is becoming a Grand Canyon sized gap.
Todd Frazier has hit as advertised, but not like Manny Machado has. Of course, being a bit of an older fella, Todd sustained a disabling leg injury. See you soon, hopefully.
Wilmer Flores finds not playing often difficult in terms of being effective....so far, he is not. 7 RBIs in over 80 plate appearances - I imagine he wants to be traded to San Francisco so he can become the next Jeff Kent.
Jose Reyes was impotent in spring training and still is, yet the Mets won't cut ties even now, 1/4 of the way through the season. Tomorrow could always be different, right? Wrong.
Michael Conforto, coming off a very serious shoulder injury, was rushed back, and has hit far less than Manny Machado, or whomever you might choose to compare him to.
The tong-less MC Hammer is 58th in average (under .210), and 79th in RBIs (9), among qualifying MLB outfielders.
Jay Bruce has been sluggish at the plate. He is not hitting at all like, oh, Manny Machado. Jay is 50th in average among OFs (.233) and 51st in RBIs (14) in 34 games.
He is also signed for 2.75 more years. Just the pertinent stats, Ma'am.
And the pitchers aren't hitting much either. 10 for 75, 1 RBI. Matt Harvey helped (2 for 7), but they traded his bat away.
Juan Lagares and Brandon Nimmo have done well, with an on base % of over .400 so far combined, but not been up enough at the plate to make a real difference.
And in about 125 plate appearances, just 6 RBIs, so appearances can be deceiving.
Asdrubel Cabrera is hitting really well....thank heavens SOMEBODY is.
That, ladies and gents, is how we're a bottom 3 scoring team.
Oh, and the fact that the Mets hit .227 with RISP.
But not to worry....Tim Tebow is looming on the horizon.
Hitting .260 in AA with 17 RBIs and a .452 slug % - take THAT, Jose and Jay and Michael and Wilmer.
He wouldn't be looming for any team but a bottom 3 scoring team, but the Mets are such a team. So he looms.
Hurry up, Tim. This team needs a hitting miracle.
(WELL, THE TEBOW PROJECTION WAS A LITTLE OFF, HUH? LOL)
Reese Kaplan -- What Kind of Team Should Steve Cohen Build?
It's this time of the year when playoff hopes are dashed, a losing record is guaranteed and year one of Steve Cohen's stewardship did not go as planned. Right now Mets fans are ill at ease, angry, scared, disgusted and mostly uncertain. No one knows what direction the team will take nor should they.
Right now it's difficult to focus on specific players when there are so many needs in the pitching rotation, the bullpen, the infield and the outfield. For one day I will refrain from analyzing the pros and cons of each and every option for the playing field.
Similarly, circumstances suggest it's a great time to evaluate the best front office management team who can finally give some direction to the franchise. I've dabbled a bit with names in the POBO and GM roles who might indeed be suitable, but until there is more concrete information coming out of Steve Cohen, it's all just a matter of guesswork.
Instead, today let's look at the type of team that we would like to see moving forward. I often think there are a certain number of team types you can build. The problem the Mets have had is lack of a coherent plan during the Wilpon era and the first year with Cohen was fraught with all kinds of unexpected challenges. Consequently I'll write off 2021 as an unplanned and unlucky disaster and instead look ahead to 2022 and beyond.
I've often brought up the concept of small ball which runs contrary to the home-run focused offenses that dominate the game today. Still, it's a combination of nostalgia and probably some long lost Little League lessons that make me long for hitting behind runners, stolen bases, strong defense, defensive shifts and pressuring the pitchers.
Power hitters are indeed seductive to have on your team. Every time Pete Alonso or someone else puts one over the wall, you think about how the long ball is the primary way to win games. No one can argue with the lure of a three-run homer, but at the same time banking on it as the only way to win is betting on a relative miracle given the scare occurrence.
Some people rave over rosters made up from a group of home-grown players who may be rough around the edges but still capable of exciting fans on both offense and defense. From a payroll perspective you get a double benefit of knowing your club developed this talent and you get to enjoy six years of it at a rather discounted rate. Some small market teams operate this way annually, enjoying the fruits of their farm system until they become appealing and expensive enough that they feel they can replenish the minors by trading them away. It's unlikely fans in a city as large as New York would be patient enough for this approach.
Then there are the All Star aficionados who want to see the equivalent of the Big Red Machine reinvented in Queens. There is certainly something to be said for making trades for great players and signing the top free agents, but then, as Mets fans well know, there is no guarantee what a player did elsewhere will repeat at Citifield. Probably the closest to this model these days is the Los Angeles Dodgers roster where they do not shy away from the best of the best regardless of the cost. It's hard to argue with success, but Steve Cohen needs to decide how deeply he chooses to invest in his new business.
Finally, there is the pitching-first type of team whose talent can keep a team in nearly every game. If your hurlers are only allowing 3-4 runs per game then you always have it in your playbook that there's a way to pull out a victory. The problem is that the Mets have kind of approached this method for many years when scoring runs became a major uphill battle and being this one-sided in the lineup approach isn't usually a truly winning formula.
Given a choice, I'd opt for a hybrid of the small-ball focus supplemented with some pitcher-intimidating power hitters. Right now the Mets need to focus just as much on improving the pitching even if they could somehow make the defense and offense better. Perhaps the right front office and on-the-field management will make a difference but changes had better be coming.
9/28/21
PRESS RELEASE - METS ANNOUNCE 2021 MINOR LEAGUE AWARDS
METS ANNOUNCE 2021 MINOR LEAGUE AWARDS
FLUSHING, N.Y., September 27, 2021 – The New York Mets today announced that catcher Francisco Álvarez was named the organization’s 2021 Minor League Player of the Year and RHP Adam Oller named Minor League Pitcher of the Year. Infielder Kevin Villavicencio was named the Mets top position player in the Dominican Summer League and RHP Joel Díaz was tabbed as the Mets best pitcher in the DSL.
Additionally, Matt Hunter, the Mets minor league medical coordinator, and Kyle Driscoll, the Mets minor league pitching movement and rehabilitation coordinator were named Mets Minor League Development Staff Members of the Year.
MINOR LEAGUE POSITION PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Francisco Álvarez (C)
Height: 5-10
Weight: 233
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Born: 11/19/01
Obtained/Scout: Signed as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2018
Álvarez began the season with the St. Lucie Mets (A) and batted .417 (20-48) with 12 runs scored, five doubles, two home runs, 12 RBI, 15 walks and a 1.213 OPS in 15 games before being promoted to High-A Brooklyn, where he spent the remainder of the season. With the Cyclones, the 19-year-old catcher had a record-breaking season establishing a new-franchise high mark with 22 home runs, which also ranked tied for fourth in the High-A East division. Álvarez also ranked third in slugging (.538), fifth in OPS (.889) and 10th in on-base percentage among all High-A East players. The Venezuela native led all Mets minor leaguers in RBI (70), extra-base hits (43), and slugging (.538) and tied for the organization lead with 24 home runs.
Álvarez was selected to participate in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Coors Field this season, where he socked a pinch-hit home run. Ranked the top prospect in the Mets organization and the No. 10 overall prospect in the majors by MLB Pipeline, Álvarez also had nine of the 22 hardest hit balls – all over 108.7 MPH - during the 2021 season among Brooklyn Cyclones players. Defensively, Álvarez threw out 26.9 percent (14 of 52) of would-be base stealers from July 1 through the end of the season.
MINOR LEAGUE PITCHER OF THE YEAR: RHP Adam Oller
Height: 6-4
Weight: 225
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Born: 10/17/94
Obtained/Scout: Selected in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft on December 12, 2019 from San Francisco.
Oller, 26, leads all Mets minor leaguers with 133 strikeouts in his first season with the Mets organization. The right-hander from Conroe, TX, has made 22 starts this season, posting a 9-4 record with a 3.31 ERA (42 earned runs/114.1 innings) while holding opposing batters to .213 batting average and averaging 10.5 strikeouts per 9.0 innings splitting the season between Binghamton (AA) and Syracuse (AAA).
In 15 starts with Binghamton, Oller went 5-3 with a 4.03 ERA (42 earned runs/76.0 innings) and led the team with 95 strikeouts. Oller allowed three runs or fewer and struck out at least six batters in each of his final six starts with Binghamton. Since his promotion to Triple-A on August 10, the right-hander has gone 4-1 with a 1.88 ERA (eight earned runs/38.1 innings) in seven starts. Oller has allowed two runs or fewer in six of his seven outings at Triple-A. He threw 6.2 shutout frames and whiffed 13 batters in his first career start at the Triple-A level in his Syracuse debut, capping a span of three starts with at least 10 strikeouts.
DOMINICAN ACADEMY POSITION PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kevin Villavicencio (INF)
Height: 5-10
Weight: 175
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Born: 11/24/03
Obtained: Signed as a non-drafted free agent on January 15, 2021
Villavicencio, 17, has put together a .304/.377/.428 slashline in the DSL in his first professional season. With the DSL Mets1, Villavicencio led the team in hits (42), runs (23), extra-base hits (14), and RBI (17). During the month of August, the shortstop posted a slashline of .340/.364/.472. On September 24, the shortstop launched his first career professional home run.
DOMINICAN ACADEMY PITCHER OF THE YEAR: RHP Joel Díaz
Height: 6-2
Weight: 200
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Born: 2/26/04
Obtained: Signed as a non-drafted free agent on January 15, 2021
Díaz, 17, signed with the Mets in the winter and instantly emerged as one of the top arms in the DSL for New York. The Dominican right-hander did not allow an earned run in his first 10 professional starts, allowing no more than three hits in each of those starts (31.0 innings). Overall, Diaz has struck out 59 batters in 46.1 innings of work and has a DSL-leading 0.58 ERA (three earned runs/46.1 innings). Díaz is tied for third with a 0.78 WHIP and sixth with a .165 opponents’ batting average.
METS PLAYER DEVELOPMENT STAFF MEMBERS OF THE YEAR: Matt Hunter & Kyle Driscoll
Matt Hunter has spent 17 seasons with New York Mets organization and has served as the minor league medical coordinator for the past four seasons. Prior to becoming the Mets’ minor league medical coordinator, Hunter had served as the athletic trainer for several of the Mets’ minor league clubs.
Kyle Driscoll is in his second season with the New York Mets organization as the minor league pitching movement and rehabilitation coordinator. Prior to joining the Mets, Driscoll worked at Cressey Sports Performance as a pitching coach and strength coach from 2018-2019. Driscoll pitched four years at Rutgers University compiling 124 strikeouts in 135.1 innings.
OPEN THREAD - LF
The most open outfield position.
Options:
McNeil
Pillar
Davis
Dom
Nimmo
Newbie
You're on...
Tom Brennan - A Different Take On Francisco Lindor's 2021 Season, and Outlook for 2022
On September 27, as I write this, Francisco Lindor has a .228 average and even he admits it was far from what he expected.
Let's look at it a different way.
His is truly a tale of two seasons. 2 1/2 seasons, really.
He started out the season with the tremendous weight of a colossal, generously bestowed, brand-spanking-new contract, followed by a canceled opening series, and truly horrific early season weather. Can somebody say, "indoor baseball?"
To make the weight on shoulders worse, his entire team was offensively awful.
"Come on, Lindor! Be a superstar already! Carry the team!!!"
He sputtered. He got booed.
Fans said he smiled too much, that they did not like his hair. They were ticked at his contract. Had to pick on something. Plenty to pick on when the bat is icy cold..
His April and May were awful:
46 games, 4 HRs, 11 RBIs, .194.
Then came the rest of his season, which included missing 37 games due to rest (a little) and injury (a lot).
When he got hurt, he was Lindor-hot. When he returned, though, without rehab games to get his timing back, he was ice-cold again for a stretch.
Nevertheless, in his 72 games after May, he had a very decent 11 doubles, 14 HRs and 45 RBIs and hit .251. If not for his glacial return from injury, he probably would have hit .270 since June.
Turn those 72 games' stats into a normal 150 game season, and you get 23 doubles, 29 HRs, and 94 RBIs. More like Lindor numbers.
And I bet if you asked him, he'd tell you he should have hit better over those 72 games, too.
His contract? He asked for it, and wanted it, but there would have been no contract if Steve Cohen had not said yes, so I hold the contract against Lindor 0%. It is what it is.
I think in 2022, Lindor comes back with a vengeance.
It will be "vengeance amplified" if they smartly move the fences in 5-7 feet, as I repeatedly suggest, and set the team up for an offensive slugging party in 2022 at home. Hitting begets hitting. Slumping, on the other hand, begets slumping. We saw a lot of the latter "beget" in 2021.
Me, I think a .275 season with 30+ HRs and 100 RBIs is possible in 2022.
I like his smiles. I don't care about his hair color. I do care about Ws.
The fans will cheer him a lot, and perhaps the boo birds will get to take the season off, at least when it comes to the play in 2022 of Francisco Lindor. Especially if there are a lot of Mets' Ws.
A lot went wrong in 2021 for Lindor.
A lot may go right for him in 2022. A lot better go right.
Thoughts? I asked some Facebook folks for their thoughts on this. I got some really strong and varied comments.
9/27/21
OPEN THREAD - 3B
I am going to pass over any open thread on shortstop.
Third base... hmm.
Davis?
Villar?
Guillorme?
Cano?
Vientos?
Remember... Brett Baty.should be ready to take over this position in 2024, pushing Mark Vientos.to a corner outfield position.
Take it away...
Tom Brennan - How About This Slugging Mets Prospect?
I like to aggregate data.
As I sit at the beach, as da wife goes for a walk, I pondered, what else, data, and wondered about this one particular minor league Mets player, whom I will name later.
High minors, here are his season stats:
595 at bats, 44 doubles, 38 HRs, 119 RBIs, .275.
Man, that guy is definitely in the MLB Top 10 Prospects, wouldn’t you say?
Well, that’s two guys actually.
Carlos Cortes and Mark Vientos.
Captain America, David Wright?
His best MLB season was 42 doubles, 33 HRs, 124 RBIs, .302 in 626 at bats.
These two young guys have combined in 2021 for Captain America numbers, if you ask me.
Look at the duo that way, and it makes them look even more impressive than when you look at them individually.
The ambidextrous Cortes (drafted 59th overall in his draft season) had better than one double every 12 at bats, a terrific rate, and a HR every 21 at bats.
What will make him a better hitter, IMO?
I might humbly suggest not hitting righty, a side he is weak at (.198). Just slug lefty, where he compiled a robust .572 slug %.
Vim and Vigor Vientos? He would have been drafted in the first round if he did not sign when drafted at age 17.
From June 9 until I sat today in this beach chair, Vientos hit .325 in 199 at bats, with 21 HRs and 50 RBIs.
I asked Babe Ruth about him, and the Bambino said he likes the kid a lot.
I asked the Babe to rate Mark’s power. The man who once blasted 60 gave him a 60.
Back to reality…
Both lads lost games due to COVID and some short term injuries. I am sad they didn’t have more ABs in 2021.
But…
Both, to me, have a bright future. Doubly bright, if you ask me.
WOW!
KHALIL LEE:
Before I go, I looked up the Mets’ answer to Bruce Lee.
167 times on base in AAA in 372 plate appearances for Khalil. That’s a whole lot. That’s Khalossal.
You do the math. Nah, that’s OK, I will… that is 45% of the time on base. He is part of a movement called "Occupy First Base."
In that surge of on-base performance lies a bit of Ron Hunt - Khalil Lee has been hit by pitches an amazing 22 times in 98 games. Bruce Lee would have hit the dirt instead.
WOW!
BEST SIGNING, LIKE, EVER?
Albert Almora Jr. was designated for assignment. He appeared in 47 games for the Mets and did this:
.115/.148/ .321. Just 6 for 52, 2 walks, 17 Ks. Khalil Lee's AAA OBP is more than 3 times as high as Almora's.
Brutal, dude. Jacob deGrom in his career is .204/.238/.251.
WOW!
Albert can't even hit like a pitcher. Is it still OK to say he hits like a girl?
OK, ladies, that's it for today.
Reese Kaplan -- Learning to Say No to Bad Investments
Every club in baseball has had one or more contracts that when offered made people scratch their heads, and then, over time, made them gnash their teeth and blood pressure skyrocket over the poor decision making that saddled the club with this player and this expense. Seattle surely felt that way about Robinson Cano and got the Mets to bite, but the thought today is not about the PED poster child, but about the shortstop they brought over from Cleveland.
The story about his monster contract seemed to evolve around a highly enjoyable meal shared with Mets owner (and fan) Steve Cohen. Rather than risking Lindor ever hitting the market as a free agent, Cohen reached deep into his pockets and extended the Indians import for 10 years at $341 million. That figure of $34.1 per season on average puts him in Jacob deGrom territory. At the time a few people were shocked at the magnitude of the deal and the heavy spending was as anti-Wilponian as fans could imagine. Not too many questioned it then.
However, this same issue is facing the Mets once again with his buddy on the other side of the second base bag, Javy Baez. He's earning relatively little this season based upon performance (less than Michael Conforto, for example). His numbers other than batting average and strikeout totals are otherwise highly impressive. His 2018 and 2019 full seasons were played at a phenomenal level, but overall given his one more year of MLB play than Lindor he's not approach his shortstop partner's WAR rating.
While my gut says he'd want the same deal Lindor got, the fact is he deserves less. Still, a $25 million per season deal for say eight years is still another $200 million investment and right now it seems the Mets have a great many other issues to address that suggest putting this much cash (if he can be had at that much lower level) into a player who showed his immaturity in the much publicized thumbs down incident.
My thinking is that they would be better off letting Baez walk away without QO compensation (which the Mets can't get since he was dealt in the middle of his final year of club control). It wouldn't make Lindor happy, but the game is about winning games, not pandering to one of your players. Having that extra $25 million per year to spend, for example, on starting pitching would likely be a better investment in making a plan towards long term contention.
To be fair, take a look at what he's done for the Mets. In his less than 2 months in Queens he's hitting .305 with 9 HRs and 19 RBIs over a period of 141 ABs. Quadruple that for a full season's output and you have 36 HRs, 76 RBIs and probably 20 SBs. It will, however, also come with shaky play in the field, some questionable base running and nearly 200 strikeouts.
The Mets still have the issue of two more years of Robinson Cano whose primary position happens to be the same as the one Baez would play for the Mets. Then there's Jeff McNeil who, despite a subpar 2021 season, is still a very talented hitter who plays much better at 2B than he does at 3B or in the outfield.
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